The W.L. Williamson - William F. Poole Research Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The W.L. Williamson - William F. Poole Research Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

William L. Williamson (1920- ) was Nicholas Murray Butler Librarian at Columbia University from 1954-1964. After 1964 he became Librarian of Montclair, New Jersey State College. In 1966, he was appointed Professor of Library Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and took emeritus status in 1987. He wrote
William Frederick Poole and the Modern Library Movement (1963), a biography of that sought to show how Poole's career represented the development of librarianship in the last half of the nineteenth century.

W. F. (William Frederick) Poole (1821-94) was an American librarian, bibliographer, and historian, b. Essex co., Massachusetts. He headed the Boston Athenaeum (1856-1869), the Cincinnati Public Library (1871-1873), Chicago Public Library (1874-1887), and the Newberry Library during its founding years (1887-1894), where he undertook building its collections as well as planning its space. Poole was a founder of the American Library Association (ALA) in 1876 and was active in the organization until his death in 1894. He was President of the American Library Association and the American Historical Association.

He wrote the first general index to U.S. periodicals,
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1848), a precursor to the
Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, in addition to numerous periodical articles and monographs. His forty-seven years as a librarian can be seen as a portrait of the library profession from its beginning through its transition to the modern era.

Scope and Content of the Collection

Correspondence, writings, and research notes of W. L. Williamson, 1865-1967, relating to his biography of William F. Poole.

Includes correspondence between Williamson and the many libraries, research institutions, and individuals from whom he requested information about Poole, 1952-1967; detailed note cards; pages pertaining to the Newberry Library from the original manuscript of Williamson's University of Chicago doctoral dissertation,
William Frederick Poole and the Modern Library Movement. There are copies of W. F. Poole's correspondence while head of the Boston Athenaeum (1856-1858), the Cincinnati Public Library (1869-1873), the Chicago Public Library (1874-1879), and the Newberry Library during its founding years (1887-1894); a few newspaper clippings (1874-1895, and a few photographs, including one of Poole, ca. 1876. Also includes an original of Poole's
The Ordinance of 1787: a Reply (1882).

Contains incoming and outgoing letters concerning the acquisition of materials and sources relating to W. F. Poole's life and career, from individuals and institutions, including members of the Poole family and Melville Dewey's son.

Arrangement note

Arranged alphabetically.

A - E11F- M12M - P13P - U14Research Files
Scope and Contents note

Extensive notes about Poole's life and work. Includes history of the Poole family, 1834-1852, and details about institutions Poole headed.

Arrangement note

Arranged by type of material, and then chronologically according to Poole's life. Note cards arranged by subject, followed by cards grouped by chronological periods.

Mainly copies of Poole's outgoing professional correspondence, 1866-1994. Also excerpts from board meetings, reports to trustees, letterbooks, and other records of institutions he headed, and other relevant materials collected by W.L. Williamson. Among the recipients of Poole's letters are Melvil Dewey, Justin Winsor, Charles Evans, and R. R. Bowker.

Includes pages 515 through 672, which concern the Newberry Library, of the original manuscript of
William Frederick Poole and the Modern Library Movement, W. L. Williamson's doctoral thesis for the University of Chicago, 1959. Also photographs of Poole and his Evanston home, an original letter by Poole purchased from a manuscript dealer by Williamson, and printed biographical essay on Poole in German, and a pamphlet written by Poole.

Microfilm copies of original documents concerning Poole's life and career, from the American Antiquarian Society, the Boston Athenaeum, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. .